Fast Properties in V8

In this blog post we would like to explain how V8 handles JavaScript properties internally. From a JavaScript point of view there are only a few distinctions necessary for properties. JavaScript objects mostly behave like dictionaries, with string keys and arbitrary objects as values. The specification does however treat integer-indexed properties and other properties differently during iteration. Other than that, the different properties behave mostly the same, independent of whether they are integer indexed or not.

However, under the hood V8 does rely on several different representations of properties for performance and memory reasons. In this blog post we are going to explain how V8 can provide fast property access while handling dynamically-added properties. Understanding how properties work is essential for explaining how optimizations such as inline caches work in V8.

This post explains the difference in handling integer-indexed and named properties. After that we show how V8 maintains HiddenClasses when adding named properties in order to provide a fast way to identify the shape of an object. We’ll then continue giving insights into how named properties are optimized for fast accesses or fast modification depending on the usage. In the final section we provide details on how V8 handles integer-indexed properties or array indices.